1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to materials for flooring. More specifically, the invention relates to a laminated glass floor tile and flooring made therefrom and a method for making the glass floor tile.
2. Description of Related Art
There are many types of flooring materials which are placed on top of the sub-flooring structure including hardwood, organic or polymeric sheets (e.g., linoleum) and tile (e.g., ceramic or stone). However, each of these flooring materials has certain limitations. For example, hard wood floors scratch easily and may be damaged if a heavy object is dropped on them. Organic or polymeric floors are susceptible to scuffing, cuts and nicks induced by falling objects or objects which are moved across their surface. Tile, such as ceramic or marble tile, may also be damaged by objects dropped on the tile and are susceptible to scratching. Furthermore, tile is difficult to repair, requiring the removal and replacement of a tile including re-grouting.
Glass is a material that has desirable properties for use as flooring, such as scratch resistance, ease of cleaning, resistance to staining and relatively low cost. Furthermore, glass can be of decorative value based upon its transparency and because it can be sandblasted or etched in a decorative fashion to reflect light in a visually pleasing manner. However, glass may be easily broken, and for this reason, glass has generally not been readily available as a flooring material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,636 to Taylor describes a light transmitting roof/floor where a glass plate is utilized as a roof or floor to allow light to pass through the plate. The glass plate is supported in part by a plate member made of transparent or translucent material such as a high strength acrylic plastic. This plate member extends around and is laminated to only the perimeter of the glass plate to avoid obstructing the passage of light through the glass plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,952 to Watras describes a cracked glass laminate having an intermediate layer of tempered glass laminated on one side to an outer layer of annealed glass. A backing layer is laminated to the other side of the intermediate layer. For use as flooring or for countertops, however, the laminate is placed in a recess and a polymer is placed over the top of the annealed glass layer to encapsulate the glass laminate thereby providing protection for the outer layer of annealed glass.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a laminated glass floor tile, and a flooring made therefrom, having an exposed top layer of glass which does not require additional surface layers of material for protection. Furthermore, there is a need for a method to make such laminated glass floor tile.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a laminated glass floor tile and a flooring made therefrom, in which the glass is the exposed top layer of the tile. Further, the laminated glass floor tile has a decorative pattern observable through the exposed glass. The laminated glass floor tile of the present invention can be easily installed with other such tiles as a complete flooring material. Moreover, such installation may be made in conjunction with floating subfloors, flexible adhesives and flexible plywood subfloors. The laminated glass floor tile of the present invention is relatively resistant, compared to other flooring materials, to scratching, breakage and other physical damage, and to water and other elements to which flooring is typically exposed. The present invention also provides a method for making the laminated glass floor tile.
These and other features of the present invention are provided by a laminated glass floor tile comprising a glass plate, a backing substrate and a decorative layer disposed between the glass plate and the backing substrate. The decorative layer may be a decorative pattern printed on the backing substrate that is visible through the glass plate, or it may be a film having a decorative pattern disposed thereon. A glass flooring made using laminated glass floor tiles is also disclosed, as well as, a method for making a laminated glass floor tile comprising the steps of placing a decorative layer between a backing substrate and a glass plate and laminating the glass plate, the backing substrate and the decorative layer.
These and other features of the invention will appear from the following description from which the preferred embodiments are set forth in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.